Project 2026 Stakeholder Report

Staying Grounded in Reality:

Community Solutions Beyond Ideology

Prepared by: Micki Archuleta, PhD, MA, MEd

Organization: Rebuilding Lives Initiative · Fiscal Sponsor: Merced LGBTQ Alliance

Date: November 2025

Executive Summary

Across the United States, polarized ideologies—from democratic socialism to corporate

libertarianism—dominate public debate. Yet real change emerges not from rhetoric, but

from grounded, community-led, evidence-based action.

The Rebuilding Lives Initiative (RLI) and its forward-facing strategy, Project 2026,

were created to restore that focus: practical outcomes, measurable progress, and local

empowerment.

RLI is a non-partisan, community-driven framework that integrates housing,

workforce development, behavioral-health access, and civic learning. It serves as a pilot

for Central California and a model adaptable to other regions.

Vision and Mission

Vision:

To transform lives and communities through education, employment, and empathy—

empowering individuals to rebuild their futures while strengthening local economies.

Mission:

To connect underserved populations to integrated pathways for shelter, skill-building,

and civic participation, replacing dependency cycles with self-determination.

Program Overview

Hands Up Outreach Center

A first-stop resource hub connecting participants to immediate shelter, medical and

mental-health care, legal assistance, and job readiness services.

Fusion Café Workforce Program

A hybrid café and training center providing paid apprenticeships in hospitality, culinary

arts, and advocacy communication. Trainees gain transferable skills while serving the

community.

Project 2026

The long-range initiative embedding RLI’s model into a sustainable statewide framework

through data-driven planning, digital learning tools, and public-private collaboration.

Key goals by 2026:

• Expand to two pilot counties (Merced & Stanislaus)

• Achieve 1,000+ job placements

• Deliver 20,000 training hours through hybrid instruction

• Integrate behavioral-health tracking for continuous improvement

Context and Rationale

France’s recent challenges with democratic-socialist economic policies highlight a

critical lesson: top-down ideology often fails to meet local realities. Programs

collapse when bureaucracy overtakes community agency.

In contrast, RLI & Project 2026 reject ideological rigidity. They adopt a ground-up,

evidence-based approach:

• Localized planning: county-level task forces determine needs and resources.

• Data accountability: metrics on employment retention, housing stability, and

mental-health engagement.

• Cross-sector collaboration: alignment with behavioral-health departments,

workforce boards, and educational partners.

This pragmatic focus ensures scalability without losing authenticity or fiscal discipline.

Impact Metrics (Year 1 Projections)

Outcome Area Target Measurable Indicator Data Source

Shelter Access 8,760 bed-nights Monthly bed logs Shelter Coordinator

Workforce Training 120 trainees 90 completions (≥75%)

Apprenticeship Records

Job Placement 60 jobs (≥30 hrs/week) 80% 90-day

retention Employer Verification

Behavioral Health Engagement 50 participants 40 stable ≥ 90 days BHRS Partnership Data

Civic Learning Modules

4 RLOs (Reusable Learning Objects)

Pre/Post Assessment

Canvas/OneNote Analytics

Stakeholder Alignment

Stakeholder Role & Contribution

Merced LGBTQ Alliance (Fiscal Sponsor) Oversight of funding channels and compliance

Merced County BHRS Behavioral-health integration and data sharing

Merced College / MJC / UC Merced Academic partnerships and intern support

Local Employers & Workforce Boards Paid apprenticeships and job placement sites

City & County Officials Policy support for pilot implementation

Community Volunteers & Faith Groups Mentorship, food security programs, advocacy training

Dolphin Voyager LLC Development of educational games and digital training modules

Sustainability and Scalability

Project 2026 emphasizes financial and operational sustainability through:

• Public-private investment blends (grants + earned revenue)

• Digital learning modules deployable statewide

• Annual impact audits for transparency

• Replicable toolkits for counties seeking adoption

A comprehensive roadmap identifies Phase 1: Merced Pilot (2024-2026) → Phase 2:

Regional Expansion (2026-2028) → Phase 3: National Scaling (2028-2030).

Communication and Public Engagement

RLI maintains transparency and engagement through:

• Monthly town halls (online + in-person)

• Blog updates and impact dashboards on rebuilding-lives-initiative.org

• Quarterly stakeholder briefings summarizing key metrics and fiscal reports

• Interactive media campaigns via dolphinvoyager.com and partner channels

Conclusion

While ideologies rise and fall, human resilience and community innovation endure.

Rebuilding Lives Initiative and Project 2026 represent a new kind of leadership—non-

partisan, pragmatic, and results driven.

In a time when theory divides, these initiatives unite through actionable

compassion and data-informed progress. We invite all partners—government,

business, education, and nonprofits—to join in building the future from the ground up.

Contact

Micki Archuleta

Managing Partner, Dolphin Voyager LLC · Founder, Rebuilding Lives Initiative

micki@rebuilding-lives-initiative.org